Tips for party planning, preparation, and presentation from Linda McCormick

Going Out on a Limb: Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

I’m all about versatility, making multiple uses of a beautiful object. Today, let’s explore how you can take a vase and a leafless branch and make displays that will generate conversation and say something about your creativity!

This idea has been in our family for over ten years. When our children were little and I was decorating for the Baha’i Faith’s gift-giving time, called Ayyam-i-Ha, I wanted a similar feature to the Christmas tree with all its beautiful ornaments. What I came up with was a couple of bare branches positioned in a miniature galvanized bucket and held in place with aquarium gravel. My “ornaments” were mirrored baubles from India and butterflies and birds from feathers. The idea was to acknowledge part of my daughter’s heritage (she is adopted from India) and to expand our childrens’ exposure to the arts and crafts of other parts of the world. Just a week ago, my daughter who is now 21, told me how much she treasures her memories of that little tree. Here is a picture of it.

Suzanna last summer in Chicago

Ayyam-i-Ha tree

I recently dismantled it to give it new life as a way to showcase a Mother’s Day gift of jewelry. Now instead of a bucket, I’ve inserted the branches into a vase (in this case the Petite Arrange -It-Easy Vase from Entertaining At Home–a gratifying feature of owning this vase is knowing that $2 from the purchase price was a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)–you can see this vase on page 51 of the Entertaining At Home catalog

So here are some ideas to turn this little tree into a way to showcase your Mother’s Day gift.

1. Of course, jewelry is always a winner. Earrings, rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendents, charms–all can grace the branches of the tree.

2. What does she collect? Find small versions of whatever that is and hang them from the tree!

3. Get the kids involved. Have each child write down a chore or a special activity that he or she will promise to do for or with mom on a small piece of paper and tie that paper to one of the branches of the tree. Mom can call in the gift chores as she needs them. It might be something so simple as “I will not fight with my brother for an hour today!”

4. The tree could hold the starting clue to a scavenger hunt, from one clue to the next until the actual gift is found.

Other uses for a tree of this sort? How about if you like to do dream boards for your business or life? Hang little cards from the tree with the words or pictures describing your dreams or goals?

I hope you have enjoyed this idea. Do you have other ideas on how to use a tree in a vase like this? Please share them by posting a comment at the end of this blog.